The thermal / Henley under a casual button up shirt is a great look.  It adds some depth, and more importantly during this time of year, warmth.  But GQ has proven that our global recession is far from over.  If one of the leading men’s fashion / style magazines has taken to making online slide shows of long under wear BOTTOMS… then I think we’re all still holding on for dear life.

Yeah times are brutal, but putting on your warmest designer long underwear, covering your head in a snood, and curling up into a fetal position while wearing your $228 Marc Jacobs Sweatshirt won’t make anything better.  Poor and stupid aren’t conditions that can be melted away by raising your internal body temperature.  And by the way, if you’re looking to raise that internal body temperature, cheap long underwear will keep you just as warm as the expensive stuff.

But for the record, in reference to the slide show…

1. No (Don’t wear anything with the word “Baby” in it.)
2. Sure
3. F*ck No.  ($208 for a long sleeve thermal?)
4. Yes
5. No
6. Like the stripes, too expensive.  No.
7. No
8. No (if you’re going to wear under-armour, wear the real stuff)

And finally… 9 – 19  There seems to be something highly ridiculous about reviewing/endorsing long underwear bottoms.  They should keep you warm, and just as important, dry.  Because if your sweat isn’t wicked away from your skin, you’re going to freeze your ass off.  Get these from REI.

Stay warm…

Despite some saying that the recession is nearing an end, or even over… retailers are still hanging on for dear life.  The holiday shopping season is underway and it looks like it’s going to be a dark, dismal winter for the big box stores.  What they probably need is something new, desirable, and different, which could draw people in and get them to open their wallets.

And the Snood is the best they could come up with?

So what precisely is a snood?  Here’s the Wall Street Journal with an explanation:

This holiday season, retailers are betting big on the snood, a cross between a scarf and a hood that, when worn over the head, is reminiscent of a babushka.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then this recession just gave birth to a bulky, awkward looking head-snuggie.

But it’s a scarf that’s also a hood!

Right… put that right next to the blanket with arms in the basket of crap I’d never spend money on.

Yes it’s mainly for women, but Burberry has been pushing their version for men as well.  $295.00 for a piece of circular cashmere that you wrap around your head if you get cold.  I feel sorry for the retailers and their employees.  Because if this is the best they got, they’re in a hell of a lot of trouble.